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Month: November 2016

Teachers, students and fellow peers I humbly and gratefully accept your nomination for the presidency of this class. Thank you for your confidence in me and the support shown towards my campaign over the course of this election.

It’s imperative I start by making it clear that this is our class, our movement and our piece of history. Through our hard work and cooperation, we will strive to create a better and brighter future not just for our class but for the entire student body.

A core component of my campaign is to serve the people and serve them well. This is an urgent task to which to which I will attend with undivided attention in order to deliver to you a class we can all be honoured to be part of. A hardworking class with astounding potential to do immense things.

My message is elementary, no dream is too big, no challenge too great, nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.

As your president, your representative but most importantly, your peer, I can promise you that above all else, with nothing in our way, I will not let you down. It is your vulnerability that motivates me each and every day to do what best I can in serving the people I have before me now.

Together, we must reclaim our school’s destiny and we not settle for anything that isn’t the best. United, we will rebuild the school’s corrupt Radiate system and contour it in a way that favours our school, our people and most importantly, our vision.

In consolidation with the people of this school I will lead a movement comprised of people of all races, backgrounds, religions and beliefs in order to deliver a faculty proud of its diverse community. A community with a hard history but a bright future, a sustainable future, a near future.

It is with great pleasure I look forward to representing you and doing a job that will make you proud of your president.

Thank you, thank you very much. I am so honoured to be here today in the role of a member of the school council.

We owe other competitors a great amount of gratitude for their time through this journey and for their support and their battle.

It’s now time for this whole school community to bind the wounds of division and get together to be united as one.

I pledge to every citizen of this school that I will be a great member of the school council and this role is so important for me.

For those who chose not to support me and vote for me. I’m reaching out to you, so you can guide me so we can work together and unify this school.

Our school consists of members from different backgrounds, beliefs, religions and races to come together and be a member of our school and for the people of St Josephs and St Bedes Catholic College our council will make sure every member of the school is part of our community.

All I can say is now the campaign and the battle is over, the journey to better the school begins now, we will get to work immediately so you, as members of St Josephs and St Bedes catholic college will be so proud to have me a part of your school council.

Now I would like to thank a couple of people who helped through my journey. Firstly I would like to say thank you to my teachers who helped, guided me and supported me through this journey secondly my voters, who believed in me enough to believe I could make a difference to our school.

I’d like to show my gratitude for all of the love and support you have given me. It’s overwhelming, its unreal to say have been elected to represent this glorious school as a member of the school council.

Thank you all very much for choosing me as your representative. Thank you, my friends. Thank you.

Thank you for the love and support that you all have shown me, and making this dream become a reality. I love you all. This is not only my success but the success of all those who have supported me through this. after the election, I congratulated my opponent for how far he has come and how close he was: it most definitely had not been the easiest time for either for us, we both had to step out from our comfort zone, the campaign period has been a stressful time for both of us. I’m so thankful to have you all besides me through this because I wouldn’t have made it this far without each and everyone of you.

I hope that I will be a successful councillor for the benefit of all you, you put your faith in me. This is the outcome we wanted and worked so hard for and I’m proud to say we did it for the values and morals we share and uphold, we will transform this school to the vision we know it can become.

I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together.You represent the best of the school, and being your candidate had been one of the greatest pride of my life.

I know some of you will be disappointed, as this may not have been the outcome you wanted. I Hillary Clinton promise you that I will work with not only those who supported me but with all who didn’t because I strongly believe as a school united we are much stronger. But I want you to remember this, I employ that you tell me any concerns or suggestions you have as I will listen to them and do the best I can do to come up with a solution for them.

Our campaign was never about one person, or even one election. It was about the school we love and building it into a hopeful, inclusive, and big-hearted place where everyone can be who they want to be. We have seen that the this school is more deeply divided than we thought, certain groups excluding themselves; my goal is to make sure that we can all unite as a school and make sure we can get rid of any divisions and make sure that nobody feels excluded from our community. I believe in this school, and I always will. We can work together as school to get rid of any issues and make sure that the school is a place where everyone feels safe but most importantly happy.

Finally, I am so grateful for our school and for all it has given to me. I still believe, as deeply as I ever have, that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strengthen our convictions, and love for this school, our best days are still ahead of us. Because, you know, I believe we are stronger together and we will go forward together. And you should never, ever regret fighting for that. I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have had this chance to represent all of you. May God bless you and may God bless this school.

I stand here before you today in a state of gratefulness and thankfulness as you, the not great people of S.t Benedict’s Sixth Form, have collectively believed in what I stand for and have elected me for a role as crucial and important as this in a council. This day truly shows the distance we’ve come as even I, a man of no clear religious beliefs, can leave such an impression to be elected for a place in a catholic school. So I say this to you, that this election has given me confidence, confidence that our school can become one of acceptance and cohesion, confidence that our new ways do not interfere with our Catholic ethos. I say to you today, that I have confidence within the powers at be that this institution will perform to its full potential and refuse the temptations of the likes of Tom and his concentration face.

So I say to you this day, that we are a school of multicultural and multi-ethnic students. A school that’s focus is on efficient learning despite what may occur outside of our school walls. A school that provides good quality education to all of its students, regardless of race, creed or faith. A school, that keeps achieving.

This institution is a great one. So I will do all I can to preserve that.

I am honoured to be elected on this school council. In fact, it is more of a relief that I, as a black man, from a mixed religious background should be elected for a catholic school. In fact, this election has given me consolidation that our school is one of tolerance and hope. Hope that we can still cling on to our catholic principles, hope that our school was not destined to be at the mercy of a man like our dear Mr Donald Trump. God is good.

Trump is a man who claims to believe in unity, yet spurts out xenophobic, misogynistic, Islamophobic, divisive remarks. So much for unity.

So I say to you all today, that, no we will respect one another. No matter our religion, Our race, our creed. No, we will not be divided by the divisive. No, we do not have room for the Donald Trump’s of the world.

To start off, I want to say I’m ever so grateful for all of the love and support you have given me. It feels unreal, almost like a movie that I can now say that I’m honoured t have been given the role of being on the school council.

Thank you all very much. A very rowdy group. Thank you, my friends. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here and supporting me from the beginning. I love you all. This is not only my success but the success of all those who have supported me through this. Last night, I congratulated Donald trump for how far he has come: it most definitely had not been the easiest time for either for us to be honest with you all this has been a stressful time for both of us. I’m so thankful to have you all besides me through this because I wouldn’t have made it this far without each of one you.

I hope that I will be a successful councillor for all of you. This is the outcome we wanted and worked so hard for and I’m proud to say we did it for the values we share and the vision we hold as a school.

I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together. This vast diverse, creative, unruly, energized campaign. You represent the best of the school, and being your candidate had been one of the greatest honours of my life.

I know some of you will be disappointed, as this may not have been the outcome for you. I Hillary Clinton promise you that I will work with not will only those who supported me but with all who didn’t because I strongly believe as a school we are much stronger. But I want you to remember this, I plead that you tell me any concerns or suggestions you have as I will listen to them and do the best I can do to come up with a solution for them.

Our campaign was never about one person, or even one election. It was about the school we love and building it into a hopeful, inclusive, and big-hearted place where everyone can be who they want to be. We have seen that the this school is more deeply divided than we thought, certain groups excluding themselves; my goal is to make sure that we can all unite as a school and make sure we can get rid of any divisions and make sure that nobody feels excluded from our community. I believe in this school, and I always will. We can work together as school to get rid of any issues and make sure that the school is a place where everyone feels safe but most importantly happy.

We don’t just respect that. We cherish it. It also enshrines the rule of law; the principle we are all equal in rights and dignity; freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these values, too, and we must defend them. So let’s do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all hold dear. Making our school work for everyone and an amazing place to be.

And breaking down all the barriers that hold any students from achieving their dreams. I strongly believe that the schools dream and aspirations are big enough for everyone. For people of all races, and religions, for men and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities. For everyone.

I am so grateful to stand with all of you to make this school the best it will ever be. I want to thank the school for giving me this opportunity to run as the councillor for this school and most importantly my family and friends for being with me all the way and motivating me on this difficult journey. I’m so astounded with the amount of support I have received, from the bottom of my heart I love you all and I’m excited to run as your school councillor.

I want each of you to know that you were the best campaign anybody could have ever expected or wanted. I want everybody coming out from behind that and make sure your voices are heard going forward. And so we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives. And to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me: I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.

Finally, I am so grateful for our school and for all it has given to me. I still believe, as deeply as I ever have, that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strengthen our convictions, and love for this school, our best days are still ahead of us. Because, you know, I believe we are stronger together and we will go forward together. And you should never, ever regret fighting for that. I am incredibly honoured and grateful to have had this chance to represent all of you. May God bless you and may God bless this school.

Text A is an online sports blog from BBC that is aimed to inform and entertain others who take an interest in language change and sport enthusiasts. The perscriptivist view is portrayed from the start with the noun “plea” which has connotations of the adjectives strong and begging. This implies that there is a strong feeling against language change as people are almost begging to preserve the word ‘medal’ as a noun, not a verb. The personification of English language and the opinion that people are “inflicting cruelty” towards it further suggests that changing it is violent and even ‘ugly’ (Mackinnon 1996). The theory of the crumbling castle by Aitchinson (2013) is supported by the idea presented that we should “maintain standards” as if we let language change towards this one word, then language will crumble.

Also Aitchinson’s theory of infectious diseases is shown through the opinion that it came from “Americanisms” as the English language take words from countries like the spreading of a disease which hurts the English language and is seen as a bad habit. However some descriptivists may say that people are seen to choose to take words from other countries as they are seen as more prestigious and would rather speak similar to them. . The perscriptivist view is shown through negative adjectives such as “rude” “ugly” and “unpleasant” when describing the verbing of ‘medal’. A sense of bathos is created throughout as it is seen to be presented as an important issue but then humour is created at the end “we’ll try to make sure the offenders don’t podium.”

Text B is an online Guardian newspaper article by David Marsh which also sets forward a persciptivist view as it portraysthe descriptivistswho accept language change as “linguistic barbarians.” The hyperbole “undermining our very way of life” shows the extreme views that people have against language change and the extremes they go to so English language is preserved.Text A and B both display a prescriptivist view due to the fact that they are very important news establishments and would like to convey their thoughts on the ‘correct’ English language. Passive voice is used as they do not exactly say who the perscriptivists are “to the outrage provoked” which creates the effect that there is a mass amount of people on the side of the Guardian, who have a well educated older audience. Sarcasm is used to create humour as they would expect their audience to know how to ‘correctly’ use language and to prove the point that they agree that language needs to be kept the way it always has been. This is similar to text A where they create humour to exclude those who do not agree which strengthens their perscriptivist view.

Text C displays a different view to Text A and B due to the fact that they would be enhanced by language change and are only commenting on this topic due to the mass amount of people who have strong feelings about it. Text C is a blog post from Oxford Dictionaries which sets up a descriptivist view as they understand that language changes and therefore want words to change so that they can sell new dictionaries. The title uses the homophones “meddling with nouns: who’s medalling now?” which add a sense of humour and gives examples of the ways that ‘medal’ can be used. Aitchinson’s theory of infectious diseases relates to their views as all “citations here are all from the US” as we have taken words from America which are harmful to the English language, however others could see taking words from America as a good thing as they have a higher status in society.Perscriptivism is shown through Mackinnon’s theory as the verbing is seen to be “awkward and abominable” and is ‘useless and ugly’. All these texts create a sense of bathos as the audiences would be well educated and want to conserve the English language.

English is not the most widely spoken language in the world, despite what you once thought. Mandarin comes in first with over 800 million speakers, Spanish in second with 400 million speakers and a close third of English with 300 million speakers.

In England, only speaking one language (monolingual) is the norm. Therefore it is easy to forget that throughout the rest of the world the norm is speaking multiple languages (bilingual). English is also seen as a lingua franca (ELF) which means that it is a common language amongst speakers who come from different linguistic backgrounds.

Streven’s world map of English (1980) illustrates the dominance of English and the difference between British English and American English. Therefore the use of the noun “Englishes” can be used as it has been transformed into many different ways by technology and coining.

One of the most influential models for considering this term is Braj Kachru’s (1992) three circles model. Examples:

Inner circle varieties (Canadian English – Has two national languages which are English and French and is a mixture of both such as the distinctive vowel pronunciation and the lexis of ‘washroom’ ‘grade one’. )

Outer circle varieties (Indian English – After the British empire, English was seen to be well embedded in India such as syllable timed, not stress timed and the grammatical use of Wh- questions.)

English is used as a first, second or foreign language by approximately 2 million people worldwide, however, it is not the most widely spoken language in the world. Current figures suggest that Mandarin is spoken as a native language by over 800 million speakers, Spanish by over 400 million and English is only approximately 300 million. So why is English used on such a global scale?

The difference between those who use it as a first or second language, is that the ones who are using it as a secondary language, have adapted it for their own use.

Kachru devised his ‘Three Circles’ model in 1992, before the rise of the internet, and this has possibly affected how we see it.However, his model doesn’t address diversity of English’s and can be seen to suggest judgments about ‘better’ usage. Canadian English has both aspects of British English and American English, which reflects the influence of culture. The language has been heavily affected by English, American and French influences including spellings, phonology, lexis and grammar. Indian English is embedded into Indian life, culture and literature however when it comes to speech this is where it differs; in terms of phonology, for example Indian speakers have little distinction between /b/, /v/ and /w/.

English as a lingua franca (ELF) refers to English being used as a common language among speakers who have different first languages. Jennifer Jenkins (2006) points to 5 characteristics of ELF:

Allowing communication among a range of people.

An alternative to English as a Foreign Language rather than a replacement for it.

Include innovations that might characterise local varieties of English as well as ‘correct’ English.

Is English a big enough title to describe its current status or is this just the core word with different variations branching off from it? English is not the most widely spoken language with Mandarin taking the top spot with 800 million native speakers beating English’s mere 300 million native speakers. However, English is still used on a massive global scale as a first, second or foreign language.

The difference between those who use it as a first or second language, is that the ones who are using it as a secondary language, have adapted it for their own use, picking parts of the English language to take on and mix it with their own language to create their own branch of the English language.

One of the most influential and recognised models for considering world English’s was devised by Braj Kachru (1992). The ‘Three Circles’ model was devised in 1992, before the rise of the Internet, which establishes World English’s. However, his model doesn’t address diversity of English’s and can be seen to suggest judgments about ‘better’ usage. Canadian English has both aspects of British English and American English, reflecting the influence of culture. The language has been affected heavily by English, American and French influences including spellings, phonology, lexis and grammar. Indian English is embedded into Indian life, culture and literature however when it comes to speech this is where it differs; in terms of phonology, for example Indian speakers have little distinction between /b/, /v/ and /w/.

English as a lingua franca (ELF) refers to English being used as a common language among speakers who have different first languages. Jennifer Jenkins (2006) has developed 5 characteristics of ELF:

Allows communication among a range of people.

An alternate to English as a Foreign Language rather than a replacement for it.

Include innovations that characterise local varieties of English as well as ‘correct’ English.